Each day Ithaca College faculty members are creating innovative ways to educate our students. With your help, we can endow new academic programs, enhance existing ones, and fund student internships. And our students aren’t the only ones who are learning and growing. Your gift can also fund faculty development opportunities, such as research and conferences.

Students and their families are struggling to deal with rising tuition costs and decreasing government aid. Ithaca College, which has an endowment (invested fund whose interest produces income) smaller than most of our peer institutions, has been forced to make up some of the shortfall by dipping into the operating budget. By contributing to an endowed scholarship or establishing one of your own, you can help ensure that generations of talented students can afford an IC education.

Tomorrow’s business leaders will need a keen understanding of effective and socially responsible management practices, as well as the ability to work well in teams. The new IC School of Business building, slated to earn the highest level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, is designed to foster collaborative learning and will serve as a working laboratory for sustainable enterprise. With your help, Ithaca will become the first institution in the nation to have such a facility for a primarily undergraduate business school.

Research shows that teamwork and leadership skills gained on the athletic field carry over into the competitive worlds of business, government, the arts, and even nonprofit organizations. To develop these skills, our student-athletes deserve a facility that matches their dedication. The 42-year-old Hill Center was built to serve 2,800 students, and IC’s student body now numbers 6,400—more than 62 percent of whom are involved in sports. With your help, a new athletics and events center will be a resource for Ithaca’s student-athletes to become champions both on and off the field. At the same time, it will support exciting new active-learning partnerships with programs like sport media, and athletic training. And not least, the campus will finally have an indoor venue large enough for campuswide, Division III, and community events, such as Commencement, tournaments, and SAB concerts.

For a living and learning environment to be effective, it needs to be, at the very least, functional and comfortable. In 2002 the campus master plan called for residences for an additional 600 students. Ithaca entered into a long-term agreement with a private real estate developer for theCircle Apartments, adjacent to campus on Danby Road. As part of the contract, the existing apartments were renovated and nine buildings were added to house approximately 700 students.

Of all the initiatives contained within the Campaign for Ithaca College: Making a World of Difference, the Ithaca Fund has the most direct and immediate effect on academic opportunities for students. It brings visiting scholars and artists to campus; equips learning spaces with technology; fosters faculty/student research; supports the library; and provides urgently needed financial aid. Even as the College takes on major initiatives such as the construction of new buildings, we must continue to depend on loyal donors for annual support. That’s why we are asking supporters of the other campaign objectives to keep contributing to the Ithaca Fund as well.